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36-474: Dame Barbara Mary Quant CH DBE FCSD RDI (11 February 1930 – 13 April 2023) was a British fashion designer and icon . She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements, and played a prominent role in London's Swinging Sixties culture. She was one of the designers who took credit for the miniskirt and hotpants . Ernestine Carter wrote: "It

72-464: A British fashion icon. In 1967 she designed berets in twelve colours for British headwear company Kangol . Quant's berets, featuring her daisy logo, are in her collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum . Through the 1970s and 1980s she concentrated on household goods and make-up rather than just her clothing lines, including the duvet , which she claimed to have invented. In 1988, Quant designed

108-584: A Japanese buy-out. There are more than 200 Mary Quant Colour shops in Japan. Quant met her future husband and business partner, Alexander Plunket Greene, grandson of the Irish singer Harry Plunket Greene , in 1953. They were married from 1957 until his death in 1990, and had a son, Orlando, born in 1970. Quant died at home in Surrey on 13 April 2023, aged 93. "She was the godmother of the youth movement in fashion,

144-467: A New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author Margaret Atwood was given the award in 2019. Sebastian Coe , Baron Coe CH represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by a royal crown (but, until recently, surmounted by an imperial crown ), and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree,

180-450: A degree in 1953. In pursuit of her love for fashion, after finishing her degree, she was apprenticed to Erik Braagaard , a high-class Mayfair milliner on Brook Street next door to Claridge's hotel. Quant was introduced to Archie McNair , who owned a photography business on the King's Road , through a mutual friend. He and Alexander Plunket worked with Quant to purchase Markham House,

216-550: A little savage", he wrote in his memoir. Fairchild was publisher of the magazine from 1960 to 1996. Under Fairchild, the company's feuds were also legendary. When a designer's statements or work offended Fairchild, he would retaliate, sometimes banning any reference to them in his newspaper for years at a stretch. The newspaper famously sparred with Hubert de Givenchy , Cristóbal Balenciaga , John Weitz , Azzedine Alaia , Perry Ellis , Yves Saint Laurent , Giorgio Armani , Bill Blass , Geoffrey Beene (four times –

252-661: A shield with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on the left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR , Alexander Pope 's description (in iambic pentameter ) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs the Younger , later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey . Men wear

288-465: A single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or precedence , those inducted into the order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH . Appointments to the order are generally made on the advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. For Canadians, the advice to

324-422: A special environment, including music, drinks, and long hours that appealed to young adults. This environment was unique for the industry, as it differentiated from the stale department stores and inaccessible high-class designer store environments that had a hold of the fashion market. Her window displays with models in quirky poses brought a lot of attention to her boutique, where people would often stop to stare at

360-549: A younger brother, John Antony Quant (who became a dental officer in the Royal Air Force ), with whom she was evacuated to Kent during the Second World War . Quant attended Blackheath High School . For college, her desire had been to study fashion; however, her parents dissuaded her from that course of study, and she instead studied illustration and art education at Goldsmiths College for which she received

396-580: Is given to a fortunate few to be born at the right time, in the right place, with the right talents. In recent fashion there are three: Chanel , Dior , and Mary Quant." Barbara Mary Quant was born on 11 February 1930 in Woolwich, London , the daughter of Jack Quant and Mildred Jones. Her parents, who both came from Welsh mining families, had received scholarships to a grammar school and had been awarded first-class honours degrees at Cardiff University before moving to London to work as schoolteachers. She had

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432-458: Is often cited as the inventor of the style, this claim has been challenged by others. Marit Allen , a contemporary fashion journalist and editor of the influential "Young Ideas" pages for UK Vogue , firmly stated that another British fashion designer, John Bates , rather than Quant or André Courrèges, was the original creator of the miniskirt. Others credit Courrèges with the invention of the style. However, skirts had been getting shorter since

468-541: The Cipriani in New York, with some of the fashion industry's leading experts including designers Alber Elbaz , Ralph Lauren , Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors . On August 19, 2014, Conde Nast sold Women's Wear Daily to Penske Media Corporation (PMC). The purchase by PMC included WWD 's sister publications Footwear News , Menswear , M Magazine , and Beauty Inc as well as Fairchild's events business for

504-490: The 1950s, and had reached the knee by the early sixties, but "Quant wanted them higher so they would be less restricting—they allowed women to run for a bus ... and were much, much sexier". Quant later said: "It was the girls on the King's Road [during the " Swinging London " scene] who invented the miniskirt. I was making easy, youthful, simple clothes, in which you could move, in which you could run and jump and we would make them

540-661: The Hall of Fame Award of the British Fashion Council . She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to British fashion. She was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to fashion. Quant received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2006. In 2009,

576-614: The Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom , seven for Australia , two each for New Zealand and South Africa , and nine for India , Burma , and the other British colonies . The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota

612-570: The badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at the left shoulder. Women%27s Wear Daily WWD is the flagship publication of Fairchild Media , which is owned by Penske Media Corporation . In April 2015, the paper switched from a daily print format to a weekly print format, accompanied by a daily digital edition. In 2017, it announced it would ramp up its focus on digital, reducing its regular print schedule further and opting instead to publish print issues only during fashion weeks and certain other events. WWD

648-632: The ban in the fashion section of a 1988 New York Times Magazine , it was believed to be the first widely distributed counterattack on Fairchild's policy. In 1999, Fairchild Publications was sold by the Walt Disney Company to Advance Publications , the parent company of Condé Nast Publications . As a result, Fairchild Publications became a unit of Condé Nast, though WWD was technically operated separately from Condé Nast's consumer publications such as Vogue and Glamour . In November 2010, WWD celebrated its 100th anniversary at

684-401: The eccentric displays. She stated that "Within 10 days, we hardly had a piece of the original merchandise left." For a while in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Quant was one of only two London-based high-class designers consistently offering youthful clothes for young people. The other was Kiki Byrne , who opened her boutique on the King's Road in direct competition with Quant. In 1966, Quant

720-441: The first over Lynda Bird Johnson 's White House wedding dress design which Beene promised to keep secret until the wedding day, and later over the size of an ad in another of Fairchild's publications; Beene's allowing a rival publication to photograph his home; and a WWD reporter Beene did not like), James Galanos , Mollie Parnis, Oscar de la Renta , and Norman Norell (who was demoted from "Fashion Great" to "Old Master" in

756-580: The first to realise that how women dressed needed to change." —Jenny Lister, curator of textiles and fashion at the V&;A In 1963, Quant was the first winner of the Dress of the Year award. In the 1966 Birthday Honours she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She arrived at Buckingham Palace to accept the award in a cream wool jersey minidress with blue facings. In 1990 she won

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792-550: The interior of the Mini (1000) Designer (originally dubbed the Mini Quant, the name was changed when popularity charts were set against having Quant's name on the car). It featured black-and-white striped seats with red trimming. The seatbelts were red, and the driving and passenger seats had Quant's signature on the upper left quadrant. The steering-wheel had Quant's signature daisy and the bonnet badge had "Mary Quant" written over

828-406: The journal's pages), among others. In response, some designers forbade their representatives from speaking to WWD reporters or disinviting WWD reporters from their fashion shows . In general, though, those excluded "kept their mouths shut and [took] it on the chin." When designer Pauline Trigère , who had been excluded from the paper for three years, took out a full-page advertisement protesting

864-482: The length the customer wanted. I wore them very short and the customers would say, 'Shorter, shorter.'" She gave the miniskirt its name, after her favourite make of car, the Mini , and said of its wearers: "They are curiously feminine, but their femininity lies in their attitude rather than in their appearance ... She enjoys being noticed, but wittily. She is lively—positive—opinionated." The fashion model Twiggy popularised

900-473: The miniskirt abroad. In addition to the miniskirt, Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although their creation is also attributed to the Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga , who offered harlequin -patterned tights in 1962, or to John Bates. In the late 1960s, Quant offered miniskirts that were the forerunner of hotpants and became

936-640: The miniskirt designed by Quant was selected by the Royal Mail for their "British Design Classics" commemorative postage stamp issue. In 2012, she was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his lifetime. Quant

972-487: The order were all decorated for "services in connection with the war " and were listed in The London Gazette . The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who is the Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into

1008-868: The publication gained popularity by the last 1950s. John B. Fairchild , who became the European bureau chief of Fairchild Publications in 1955 and the publisher of WWD in 1960, improved WWD 's standing by focusing on the human side of fashion. He turned his newspaper's attention to the social scene of fashion designers and their clients, and helped manufacture a "cult of celebrity" around designers. Fairchild also played hardball to help his circulation. After two couturiers forbade press coverage until one month after buyers had seen their clothes, Fairchild published photos and sketches anyway. He even sent reporters to fashion houses disguised as messengers, or had them observe designers' new styles from windows of buildings opposite fashion houses. "I have learned in fashion to be

1044-710: The shopfront that would be the location of her clothing boutique, Bazaar. The two men both contributed financially to the project, and Markham House was purchased for £8,000. During the renovation, Quant worked to locate wholesale suppliers, with a salary of £5 per week. Once the shop opened, Quant initially sold clothing sourced from wholesalers in her new boutique in the King's Road. The bolder pieces in her collection started garnering more attention from media like Harper's Bazaar , and an American manufacturer purchased some of her dress designs. Because of this attention and her personal love for these bolder styles, she decided to take designs into her own hands. Initially working solo, she

1080-533: The signature name. The headlight housings, wheel arches, door handles and bumpers were all "nimbus grey", rather than the more common chrome or black finishes. Two thousand were released in the UK on 15 June 1988, and a number were also released on to foreign markets; however, the numbers for these are hard to come by. The special edition Mini came in two body colours, jet black and diamond white. In 2000, she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd, her cosmetics company, after

1116-649: Was a fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers , and winner of the Minerva Medal, the society's highest award. Companion of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms . It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire . The order

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1152-655: Was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven. Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped the allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony , former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ,

1188-435: Was founded by Edmund Fairchild on July 13, 1910, as an outgrowth of the menswear journal Daily News Record . The publication quickly acquired a firm standing in the New York clothing industry, due to the influence of its first advertisers. Edith Rosenbaum Russell served as Women's Wear Daily 's first Paris correspondent. Reporters for the publication were sometimes assigned to the last row of couture shows, but

1224-403: Was named one of the "fashion revolutionaries" in New York by Women's Wear Daily , alongside Edie Sedgwick , Tiger Morse , Pierre Cardin , Paco Rabanne , Rudi Gernreich , André Courrèges , Emanuel Ungaro , Yves Saint Laurent and Baby Jane Holzer . The miniskirt, described as one of the defining fashions of the 1960s , is one of the garments most widely associated with Quant. While she

1260-443: Was originally intended to be conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seemed to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour dissociated from either the acceptance of title or the classification of merit. It is now described as being "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The first recipients of

1296-598: Was soon employing a handful of machinists; by 1966 she was working with a total of 18 manufacturers. A self-taught designer inspired by the culture-forward "Chelsea Set" of artists and socialites, Quant's designs were riskier than standard styles of the time. Quant's designs revolutionised fashion from the utilitarian wartime standard of the late 1940s to the energy of the 1950s and 1960s' cultural shifts. She stocked her own original items in an array of colours and patterns, such as colourful tights . Quant's impact did not just come from her unique designs; in her boutique she created

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